Dear Dale
by Stephensmat
Summary: Ever wonder why Gracie acted the way she did? Ever wonder why Gracie seemed to hate Skylar so much? Ever wonder what Gracie was doing the night the lights came back on in Jericho?


I sit down at the desk, open a piece of paper, and start writing.

It's a very emotional process, I have to stop and collect myself several times, but finally I am done.

Outside, the lights have come on. Streetlights in Jericho. What a peculiar thought. It's only been two months that we haven't had them.

I read it twice carefully, nod in satisfaction, and put it into my pocket. I get up and head for the door. I'll give him the letter, and then go to Mayor Green, tell him everything. Johnston's a good man, between him and Dale, maybe... If nothing else I have to make peace with Dale.

I feel the knife go into me.

On some level I know instantly. I'm already dead; I just haven't stopped moving yet.

_Dale... dale I'm sorry. I was going to tell you tomorrow._

* * *

April came into the office. "Gail?"

Gail Green wiped her face. "Yeah?"

"I... I don't know if this is a good time, I know you and Gracie were friends..."

"We were." Gail said quietly. "Everything went so crazy... I didn't get a chance to spend much time with her..."

April started backing out. "It'll keep."

"It's okay. What's the result?"

"It's what we thought. A stab wound to the abdomen, she bled out."

"Anything that might tell us who did it?"

"No. But I did find this." April handed over an unsealed envelope. "I think you should read it."

Gail opened the letter, read it carefully.

* * *

Dear Dale.

I have to apologize for the way I treated you today. It wasn't right, and though I make no apologies for what happened with Skylar, I'm sorry if I treated your friend poorly.

It wasn't anything personal against her, it was against her father.

Her father bailed me out once you see, and never let me forget it.

Not because he was malicious, but because he was a businessman. What a man like that stays in Jericho for is beyond me.

That family took everything from me.

Skylar's mom and I grew up together. When we were about your age, she and I were the best of friends. And then one day, Ben Stevens was driving down the interstate. Did you ever go to that truck stop between here and Rogue River? That's where Skylar's parents met. He had a BMW, he had a suit, he had taken a wrong turn and asked Skylar's mom for directions.

I'm not quite sure what made Ben pick her, out of all the blonde's he had fawning over him at the time, but he did. All I know is, she stopped coming around after that. All I know is, I lost my best friend to that man.

But that wasn't all. You see, the same events that forced Jake to leave Jericho, (and I will not tell you what they were,) also destroyed Jonah's reputation as a legitimate businessman. Everybody suddenly thought that he was dirty and corrupt.

He was, but that's not the point.

He ran the shipping between the city and Jericho. When the town started freezing him out, I'm the one that felt the pinch. I was bleeding money, going bankrupt, and since my name was associated with Jonah no bank or business would help me. And I had only one person to turn to.

I had to _beg _Dale. I had to beg my best friend. You know what she called me? "Mrs Leigh." She wouldn't even acknowledge that I was the one who snuck her into my dad's liquor cabinet thirty years ago. My friend, my only friend, turned into a rich snob by that man.

He gave me money so that I could start getting supplies in regularly by train. The train that you tracked down last month. But that kind of money cost me.

It burned so deep, having to ask him for help, having to beg his wife so that I could keep my one room space above the store. And the only thing I had to offer was equity. Equity in the ownership of the store. A lot of it.

Dale... the store doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Skylar. It belongs to her father. With her father and mother dead, she inherits it all. That house, the mine, the accounts, the family business, and the store.

I checked the paperwork. Ben gave Skylar parental consent to inherit when she turned 16. She has the legal authority to take anything of my store that she wants.

I have no kids, no siblings, nothing except that store, and the room above it. Except I only have 45 of it. And because of a stupid inheritance rule on a loan application, _SKYLAR STEVENS_ owns the rest of it. That girl, who calls you such awful names, who treats us both so terribly, owns a majority percentage of my life.

And I don't even know if she knows.

When the rain came Dale, bringing the fallout with it, we all ran to the mine, and you went back for _HER_! Dale, I was so close to just screaming like I'd never stop... if you died because of Skylar Stevens being stupid...

I _wanted _her to die. I hate myself for it, but right then, I wanted her to die from the fallout. If she died, there would be nothing to stop me from taking the rest of the store. It's my home Dale, and it's all I've got. Everybody is hanging on to what they have left by their fingernails, why can't I? I was almost hoping that she'd be stupid enough to get herself killed, and then I realized you were with her!

I was so scared.

And after that, that same day, she comes marching into MY... into _her _store, and still treats you like part of the furniture.

That's why. She cannot feel comfortable here. I won't allow it. She cannot feel like there's a place for her here. Not in my store. She is not welcome here, just because she's my landlord now.

Maybe it's shallow and cruel of me, but this, is my private act of rebellion. Skylar Stevens doesn't get a free ride in this store. Skylar Stevens still pays for cola. Period. End of story.

This new world isn't for me; it's for the young and strong. It's for the people who can adapt fast, think on their feet, and still care enough to give others a helping hand. It's for the boy who just lost his family and comes rushing to help an old woman with a store full of meat going bad. It's for the young man who risked his life to help the people who made their life hell.

It is _NOT _for cheerleaders who have no tolerance for people who don't wear the latest fashion. It is NOT for girls who don't have the sense to come in out of the rain, even when the rain is _radioactive_!

And it is not;_ it is not_, IT IS NOT, for people like Ben Stevens.

And Skylar is so much like her father that I can't stand to see you with her.

She's her father's daughter Dale. I only hope you realize that.

I had to try a different approach. Trading trinkets and appliances isn't going to help me, or you. We can't eat batteries and knick-knacks. So I had to go to somebody who could trade food. I had to go to Jonah. I had to BEG Jonah so that I could stay open. I had to stay open so that I could get my home back.

I know it's cold, but Dale, I need to show them. If I can show them that the store is still viable, even without money, then with Ben gone, I can buy out the terms of the loan. Skylar can't match that. The store will be mine again.

But to have any legal right I need to prove three things.

One: That the store still functions.  
Two: That Ben's cash/involvement isn't necessary.  
Three: That this store supports someone.

But now... now it's all gone Dale.

The store won't function without supplies. Jonah was my last reliable source. The town cut me off. Truth be known I can't get too angry over that. I hate him too. The market isn't viable. Nobody will trade, because everybody is in a panic, hoarding whatever he or she has got. And now the only person this store will support is me, because my sole employee has run out.

You're wondering why I didn't tell you, and the answer is, because of _her_. For some reason, you don't see how conceited and manipulative she is, and if you knew, you would go straight to her and ask for her help. You would ask her to rip up the contract.

You really think she would, just because you asked her?

I am NOT going to beg Dale. I will not beg and plead with that little twit. I had to plead with her father, with her mother, with Jonah, and with _you _as you walked out on me today.

I went into a complete dither when you took that damn jewelry box with you. Not just because my store, my home, my livelihood was ruined, but because you were going straight from me to HER.

When I found out that it was Skylar who took you in, I honestly didn't know whether to laugh, scream or cry.

You thought I was being selfish, but there's one more thing.

I have no family, I have so few friends, and this store, my livelihood and home, had only one employee. So who do you think will get it all when I'm gone?

You Dale. I was the first person you met when your family moved here, this was the first job you took over the summer, and you practically supported your family from this job. And you treated me like a friend the whole time. You are my sole heir, because who else have I got?

Dale... I do not want you to have to beg that girl, like I have to.

Not hers. Yours. I swear this to you. It's the only thing I have left. This store is all I have left in the world. I was not meant for a world like this Dale. I have no family; I have no children of my own. All I have is this store, a few friends in this town, and you. This will be your store, when I am gone. Yours, not hers. It will take me a while to get there, but I will. I promise.

You saved my life Dale. You brought me supplies when I didn't have any, you watched my back when i had nobody else. I shouldn't have lied to you Dale, and if it was anybody else's jewellery box, I wouldn't have. But _Skylar_...

Everybody's looking out for themselves now. I am, she is, but you aren't. You're trying to look out for her and for me.

And _she _took _you _in. When I realized that, I started to wonder. But what I needed to know was if she was trying to help you out... or if she was just getting her hooks into you, like her father did to me.

I owe you a lot.

Dale, I'm sorry.

Please, come back.

Love

Gracie

* * *

Gail folded the letter, feeling sick to her stomach. "Oh..." She let out a heavy sigh. "Dale... poor kid."

April looked helpless. "What do we do?"

"I'll handle it April."

Gail got up, went into the Record room, and found the Deed to the Supermarket.

Sitting down at the nearest desk, she took out a very thin knife and scratched out two numbers, before looking for a pen the right color.

Ten minutes work, and she smudged over the scratch marks slightly. It was a ten-year-old document. Old enough to let her changes go unnoticed. Nobody was going to be looking at it anyway. The percentages had been reversed.

Gracie now owned 55 percent of the store.

The command percentage, which had been left to Dale. The store was his. Not Ben's, not Skylar's, not Jonah's, not Johnston's, not Jericho's.

And woe to anybody who tried to prove otherwise on her watch.

Gail crumpled the letter up tight, stuck it in her pocket. "For you Gracie." She whispered, and went to tell Dale.

One day she'd tell Skylar.


End file.
